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Thursday, October 31, 2013

Today is Halloween! I am eager to meet up with all the little people in my family and take these adorable people around the snag some candy (for mommy) and have some fun!

Our day is busy. We will start with Eyan's class party at 11:00, then to Great grandma and grandpas for some visiting then back home to grab my mom and up to Fort Collins by 5:00 to enjoy pizza at my uncles. From there we will head out trick or treating for about 1.5 hours and then to Chuck E' Cheeses for some games and fun! Seriously, so fun!

Even though we are not home, we decorate and leave out candy for the masses. So naturally we must carve all the pumpkins...especially since we grew them ourselves and seriously Eyan looked forward to this lone event for 3 full weeks!

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

This is by far one of my favorite events to take the kids too. We always take my nephew Caleb as well and just have a great time. Being members we get in 1/2 hour earlier then the masses and boy is it worth it! We parked easily and walked right in and up to the trick or treat stations. We also got to enjoy the animals being a bit more active as they were wide awake and ready for visitors. I didn't take a ton of pictures as pushing a stroller and managing a pokey Ninja Turtle were a bit chaotic, but here are a few!

Posing with the gorilla...that of course is not easily seen because of the glare

Overall, this year was a bit tough. Eyan and Caleb were so excited to be Ninja Turtles that they pretty much could care less about getting the candy and seeing the animals. More then one time we had to tell them to be careful with their nun-chucks and swords, and seriously they were walking SO slow! The baby obviously had no clue what was going on, but people gawked and loved all over her adorable little self.

Sunday, October 27, 2013

So it appears like I am a Halloween fanatic. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a good holiday, I put extra effort into Halloween, but well it is not my favorite holiday. That day is reserved for Christmas. However, All Hallows Eve is a fun evening to dress my kids up, and do a bunch of fun activities!

So here is the costumes! My mom took the lead and made all of these costumes. I typically make it, but with my insane work schedule and just trying to keep my head above water, my mom took off with my ideas and did the costumes up big! The only thing I did was attach a bow and made a tutu.

So here are my sweets!

Ummm Yeah, this little Elephant just stole your heart too!

Ralphael and Michaelangelo! I will be getting a better photo of my little man...he was too excited about those weapons

Monday, October 21, 2013

So I'm a mess. I set unrealistic expectations for myself and am now swimming in a sea of chaos with the only end being 8 months away...I think anyway. You should know that I have OCD...and no that doesn't just mean I need things in there place and clean. That means not only do I have rituals (everything in its place, morning routine exactly, brush my teeth the exact same way and pace everyday, no sharing due to germs, etc.) but when my rituals do not go as planned, I immediately obsess over it to the point I have already decided the fate of my life. This can be over big things like bills or work to little things like the impact of forgetting to grade 1 paper the day midterms are due, causing me to automatically obsess and conclude that that 1 paper will cost me my job. Yeah was that a lot for you? Imagine what is happening in my head.

Lately nothing seems to be going in my favor with regards to balancing work and home. I have minimal time at work to successfully get work done, especially with my 3 classes to prep for, pumping, grading and all the other teacher duties. At home I am a lackluster mother. I try to make time to play on the floor with the kids but thanks to my old friend OCD, everything must be in its place before I can enjoy that time. Tonight, even though Jason cooked dinner, as soon as we were done I cleaned the kitchen top to bottom, packed lunches, unpacked today's bags and ran to target. I barely gave my kids the attention they deserve and that is all because I cannot calm my rituals enough to just breathe and take in these precious moments.

Work...ugh work! I used to say that I was a fantastic teacher...one of the best! I could build relationships with any kid and get amazing results. Now, I can't and I am not a good teacher. I am exhausted. We are hardly sleeping...like 3-4 broken hours a night. I cannot find the time to get everything done that is necessary to offer my students a versatile and dynamic classroom. I'm surviving and this fact alone is setting my OCD into hyperdrive. I've already decided that I will be fired at the end of the year. Who knows why, but every little obsessive moment guides me to the same conclusion: my data isn't as good as normal, my AP kids are not doing as well as had hoped, the budget (for which I am in charge of) is misbalanced causing a deficient, and the topper lately...my potty mouth. Yeah my mouth is rough this year. I'm too tired to edit, so I become an uneducated person with a country twang and a ghetto background.

I have no real direction with this post...probably just a vent, maybe a little advice seeking or possibly just shining some light on the real life of someone with OCD, who doesn't just need something clean.

Jason and I typically grow our own pumpkins...and we did this year too! However we only harvested 3 pumpkins this year and well...there are now four of us. So when my aunt invited us to go have some fun and pick some pumpkins, I decided why the heck not!

Yesterday we headed slightly up north to Fritzlers Farm and enjoyed the festivities, picked out a pumpkin and enjoyed the heck out of the awesome Colorado weather!

Jumping on the huge pillow!

Hanging out with mommy while the boys play!

Riding the barrel train

Driving the pedal cars

Just two boys enjoying the day!

I didn't take any pictures of the pumpkin patch because at this point the majority of the pumpkins were nasty and rotted, but we found a small one and I post pictures of it carved next week.

Thursday, October 17, 2013

It's been almost a full 3 weeks of preschool and well it's going. I think Eyan likes it but he rarely talks about school and even tells us he doesn't like school or that he did nothing and has no friends.

Yeah that was alarming for me too. So naturally I contacted his teacher and told her my concerns. Jen (our nanny) even spoke with the teacher too! When Eyan is dropped of he never cries, he walks right in and gets to playing, he participates in class and his teacher (Mrs. Jenny) says that he gets along very well with the other kids and seems to enjoy school.

So what is the big deal? Well I think he got some extra attention about school when he told us he didn't like it and decided that he would continue on that path. At least I hope. Yesterday there was a glimmer of hope. Eyan told us what he did in school, showed us some of his art and even said he had fun!

So I am not your typical shoe loving girl. Well I should rephrase that...I love shoes but I love comfort even more and when I find a pair of comfortable shoes, I will wear them for years. This is no joke, I have a pair of shoes that I currently wear fairly regularly that have been in my closet since 7th grade (That is like 16 years!)

So when I was sent the Dr. Scholl's for her Comfort Insoles to try out, I was pretty excited. I have used Dr. Scholl's inserts before in my skates, but never in my everyday shoes.

I decided to throw them in my knockoff Toms and see how much more comfort and support they really gave. To my surprise, they were fantastic! I loved that I did not have to cut them to fit my shoe, they were not too sticky or gummy (which other cheaper insole brands are!), the arch support was just right and they were pretty!

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

I don't think I ever shared these with you guys. Let me tell you how in love I am with all these photos of my darling baby girl. My photographer is fantastic and her photos are just perfection! She shoots a variety of images, has fantastic props and is so sweet and open to ideas. Visit her website www.KristaHaffnerPhoto.com to see more of her amazing work!

Emberlynn's Newborn Session

3 Month Session

6 Month Session

I am ridiculously in LOVE with these photos! She make my little baby look too sweet and just perfect. Emberlynn loves taking photos and is always so intrigued by what Krista is doing. I cannot wait for our family photos in November!!!

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Today I remember and I honor the babies who never took their first
breath, were born into the hands of God and who we never met. My angel
babies are watching over us and although I have two beautiful children
here with me, my angel babies are never far from my mind.

6 weeks along with a baby I will never hold in my arms

Everyday is
tough; Everyday I think about my babies who I never met, but feel like I
know. However, I also realize that without those extremely tough
losses, I would probably not have these two...

The most recent photo I have...sorry it is a bit on the silly side

...and then I breathe a little lighter,
realize God has a plan and my precious babies are in the best place
ever. Watching over us all and guarding are hearts, waiting until we
meet again.

Sunday, October 13, 2013

So she is 7 months now and seriously I have NO clue what we have been up to these last 7 months. I seriously still feel like I JUST had her! Well let's get down to business.

-No weight or height checks for a while, but I am fairly positive we are at least 14lbs!!!

-I am positive because this girl LOVES all foods. She wants to eat everything, taste the world, and literally has yet to not like a food. So far we have tried oatmeal, apples, sweet potatoes, pears, squash, sweet peas and tiny pieces of turkey from my sandwich, the other day!

-She is still tiny, wearing 0-3 month but I have decided to let her swim in some clothes and just bump her to 3-6 month anyway because I am so over her wearing the same outfits the last 5 months! She is still in size 1 diapers which probably will last another month.

-She has mastered sitting up and rolling over both ways. She is NOT sleeping through the night and still wakes to nurse 2x a night typically (and like 8 other times just to torture me!)

-She has been sleeping in her room for almost a month now and although it sucks to physically get my arse out of bed to feed or settle her, it's better for all.

-Her brother is her world...still. She laughs at him constantly and just wants to be like him.

Thursday, October 10, 2013

Let me just tell you, with the stress of work, and this whole not sleeping business, we were due for a little family getaway! So off to my grandparents cabin we went and boy did we have a fantastic time. We hit some serious thick fog and it was so scary as we were heading up there. Once we got there it started snowing and it didn't let up for 36 hours! So basically, Emberlynn and I just hung out in the cabin while Jason gallivanted in the snow and Eyan well, he attempted to keep up with daddy, but mostly, hung with grammy and sissy. I didn't take too many photos as I literally did not leave the cabin, but I captured some cute moments.

Monday, October 7, 2013

My friend Censie over at Building Our Story, recently wrote about taking her son Jude to A Day out With Thomas, which looked like so much fun, that we had to take Eyan!

So we purchased tickets, and headed out with Jason's aunt and uncle to the Colorado Railroad Museum to check out Thomas and have a little fun.

The train table was a hit!

I tried doing a "selfie" of the kids...neither were impressed

All of us on the train getting ready to ride...Uncle Bob is bragging to his son on the phone and making him part of the photo

Eyan and Thomas!

So a little review for the masses, because the blunt truth can be really helpful when deciding if you want to spend the cash on something like this or save it for something better.

We chose a ride time that was not sold out and that made it much easier to get around and see everything.

Eyan likes Thomas, but is not a fanatic...therefore this was not near as cool as Disneyland to the boy and may have been a slight waste of money. At $18.00 a ticket, it was a little expensive and although the train ride was longer then I expected and they did have a few kids areas set up, it was not worth the cash for us.

The Pizza selling people from Boulder are funny and make delicious pizza...I wish I would have written their name down because seriously the food stand they had there was AMAZING!

We literally got through the entire place with all the events in less then 1.5 hours...that is how interested my son was. We had already been there one time prior and been through all the cars, and he just did not want to walk through all of them again.

The parking shuttle is nice, but unorganized. At one point a group that was at the waiting point prior to us, waited to get on until last and then could not fit their entire family on the shuttle and were very upset. The driver made it sound like this was commonplace.

Overall, we would probably wait for a while before we do this again. Eyan likes Thomas but just not enough for him to light up and get super excited and really enjoy the day.